SCHLEPP HONORED — Cheryl Schlepp has been nominated as the Student Council Advisor of the Year at Conrad High School. She is also the advisor of Family Career and Community Leaders of America and, has announced she will retire after more than 30 years of teaching, 28 of them at CHS. I-O Photo by Buck Traxler

Cheryl Schlepp was recently awarded the Student Council Advisor of the year for District one. She has also been nominated for the same award on the state level.

Schlepp has served as advisor for Student Council at CHS for 16 years. She takes this responsibility very seriously because she feels so strongly about students developing leadership ability, strong moral character and academic achievement.

She is far more than just an advisor. She has led leadership “lock ins” for the student council and other class officers. She hosts all the student council meetings in her classroom, while making sure the students’ use Parliamentary Procedure.

Schlepp has taught at Conrad High School for 28 years. She has taught Home Economics, which is now broken down into Nutrition, Independent Living, Family Living, Child Development, Culinary Arts and Entrepreneurship.

Montana’s Office of Public Instruction (OPI) requires school kitchens to be licensed and inspected by county sanitarians. Only they don’t.

School districts that receive a portion of Montana‘s $30,370,593.88 from the USDA’s National School Lunch Program have to pass a sanitarian’s inspection twice a year.

Only they don’t.

OPI’s two sets of rule books seem to stem from a conflict of interest that becomes much more intense at a time when all state agencies are facing severe budget cuts.

School kitchens serve the public, just as restaurants and caterers do, so sanitary conditions and safe food handling are paramount to offering healthy food to Montana’s students. Restaurants, cafeterias and mobile units that prepare or serve food or drinks, with or without charge, must meet health codes that are established by the Department of Public Health & Human Services (DPHHS).

Much to the relief of a number of city employees, the city council on a 4-0 vote, passed a permissive medical levy Monday evening.

By law, the city may raise funding for a medical levy after a public hearing without having a city-wide election.

The cost for the health insurance policy is estimated to be $450 a month for which eligible employees will have to kick in $25 out of their pocket.

A number of city residents showed up to speak out or ask questions at the 8 p.m. public hearing, one being Tom Farrenkopf who said he was against the levy to insure a small group of people within the city. He also felt it was poor timing with the bad economy and opposed it for economic reasons.